The term "Việt" (Yue) was first written using the logograph "戉" for an axe in oracle bone and bronze inscriptions of the late Shang dynasty, referring to a people or chieftain to the northwest of the Shang.

The term Baiyue/Bách Việt, referring to non-Chinese populations of south and southwest China and northern Vietnam, first appeared in the book Lüshi Chunqiu.

Zhao Tuo, a Chinese general, annexed Âu Lạc, initiating a millennium of Sino-Vietic interaction.

The Han Empire conquered Nanyue, bringing northern Vietnam under Han rule.

Ngô Quyền led Viet forces to victory against the Chinese armada at Bạch Đằng River and proclaimed himself king, marking a step toward Vietnamese independence.

Đinh Bộ Lĩnh united twelve warlords and chiefs and established the Đại Việt kingdom.

Beginning in the 10th and 11th centuries, a strand of Viet-Muong, influenced by a Chinese dialect in northern Vietnam, began evolving into modern Vietnamese. Its speakers identified as the "Kinh" people.

Emperor Lý Thái Tổ relocated the Vietnamese capital from Hoa Lư to Đại La, the center of the Red River Delta.

The Ming dynasty of China conquered Đại Việt, initiating 20 years of Chinese rule.

Emperor Lê Thánh Tông began his reign and instituted extensive reforms and a cultural revolution, transforming Đại Việt into a bureaucratic state.

Lê Thánh Tông's forces overwhelmed Champa.

With the death of Thánh Tông, the Đại Việt kingdom swiftly declined due to climate, failing crops, regionalism and factionism.

European missionaries and traders brought new religion, ideas and crops to the Vietnamese.

Four Vietnamese families – Mạc, Lê, Trịnh and Nguyễn – each ruled their own domains.

Alexandre de Rhodes published a catechism in Latin and romanized-Vietnamese (chữ Quốc Ngữ) or the Vietnamese alphabet.

Emperor Gia Long, aided by French mercenaries, defeated the Tay Son kingdoms and reunited Vietnam.

The southern third of the country became the French colony of Cochinchina.

The entire country came under French rule, with the central and northern parts of Vietnam separated into the two protectorates of Annam and Tonkin.

The three Vietnamese entities were formally integrated into the union of French Indochina.

Ethnic tensions sparked by Vietnamese ethnonationalism peaked during the beginning phase of the First Indochina War, resulting in violence between Khmer and Vietnamese in the Mekong Delta.

The Vietnam War resulted in significant social, economic, and political upheavals, shaping the modern history of Vietnam and its people.

Forced repatriation and deaths during the Khmer Rouge era reduced the Vietnamese population in Cambodia.

The Vietnam War ended.

The fall of Saigon and end of the Vietnam War prompted the start of the Vietnamese diaspora, which saw millions of Vietnamese fleeing the country from the new communist regime.

Census data indicates that Kinh people account for 85.32% of Vietnam's population.